1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to insulation blanket apparatuses, systems, and methods. In particular, the disclosure relates to insulation blanket apparatuses, systems, and methods for maintaining full insulation filler material thickness about insulation blanket through openings of insulation blankets in vehicles, such as aircraft.
2) Description of Related Art
Many vehicles, such as aircraft, employ insulation blankets to moderate the interior temperature of the vehicle and to provide noise insulation. For aircraft, such insulation blankets typically provide thermal and acoustic insulation and are placed into the air space or cavity between the aircraft fuselage skin panels and the aircraft interior panels. Such insulation blankets may include insulation blankets installed in an upper lobe of an aircraft fuselage and in a lower lobe of the aircraft fuselage.
Insulation blankets and systems typically include one or more layers of a thermal and acoustic insulation filler material partially or completely encased within an insulation cover. The insulation cover is typically made of a heat seal film material. Engineering requirements for upper lobe insulation blankets and systems require that an insulation filler material thickness be maintained at all of the edges of the insulation filler material, including the edges of any grommets used with the insulation blankets and the edges of through penetrations made through the insulation blankets to accommodate ducts, tubing, wiring, and the like.
Known systems and methods exist for heat sealing edges and forming grommets at the edges of insulation filler material of insulation blankets, for example, those with through penetrations. However, such known systems and methods for heat sealing edges and forming grommets at the edges may create a knife-edge reduction in the insulation filler material thickness around the edges or edges of the grommet, thus creating knife-edges around a perimeter of the through penetration. This may result in an unacceptable insulation filler material thickness and may not maintain the insulation filler material thickness that is required at all of the edges of the insulation filler material.
In addition, known systems and methods exist for forming edges of insulation filler material of insulation blankets, for example, those with through penetrations. One such known system and method for forming edges of insulation filler material includes manually applying pieces of hand cut tape to form the edge and maintain full insulation filler material thickness. However, applying such hand cut tape may be labor intensive, may create quality challenges, and may add significantly more weight than a heat seal solution.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved apparatus, system, and method for maintaining full insulation filler material thickness about insulation blanket through openings of insulation blankets in vehicles, such as aircraft, that do not create knife edges in the perimeter of through penetrations through the insulation blanket, and that are simple to use, low cost, time efficient, reliable, and that provide advantages over known apparatuses, systems, and methods.